page_title: Chinese influence on Japanese culture
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Chinese influence on Japanese culture / History
caption_attribution_description: Possible route of Kento-shi vessels (from Japan to Tang-China)
context_page_description: Chinese influence on Japanese culture refers to the impact of continental Asian influences transmitted through or originating in China on Japanese institutions, culture, language and society. Japanese pop culture has become famous internationally through anime and manga, but older elements of its culture such as Taoism, Buddhism, astronomy and language have been profoundly influenced by China over the course of centuries.
context_section_description: Conflicts caused by Chinese expansion in the later stages of the Jōmon Period, circa 400 BCE, led to mass migration to Japan. The migrants primarily came from continental Asia, more specifically the Korean Peninsula and Southern China, which brought over "new pottery, bronze, iron and improved metalworking techniques", which help improve the pre-existing farming tools and weaponry. Chinese influence came mostly by sea, but also through Korea.
  The influence of Chinese culture was an indirect effect of communications by Korea, around the 1st to the 5th century A.D.. Korea had already incorporated major elements of Chinese civilization into their own culture, and from there, mediated the interchanges between China and Japan.
  The Han Shu written in 82 A.D. (also known as 'the book of Han' or 'History of Han') states that the Wa sent envoys and tribute to the Jùn (Chinese commandery) in northern parts of Korea. To further expand, the Wa was a confederation of minor southern and western states of Japan, with an emphasis on the state Yamato. According to the Han Shu, this was the first textual reference made to Japan, in reference to Sino-Japanese interaction. Another Chinese source that documents Chinese influence on Japanese culture is Wei Chih written in 297 A.D. (also known as History of Wei). Wei Chih states that Chinese and Japanese interactions of tribute originates back to 57 and 107 A.D. Prominent figures of authority, such as Queen Himiko, sent Japanese ambassadors to parts which belonged to the Chinese, around 189–248 A.D. This continued in the Kofun Period, as envoys continued to be transmitted from Japan into China. In 502 A.D., eleven new envoys were sent to China. This was, according to Mark Cartwright, the emergence of Yamato Japan as an international diplomatic state.
  In comparison to Korea, Japan controlled its intake of cultural influence from China, also known as 'cultural borrowing'. This meant that it "acknowledged the cultural superiority of the Chinese Middle Kingdom", while always holding onto its political independence. In addition to controlling the process of 'cultural borrowing', Japan also remained selective when considering which Chinese ideas and institutions they wanted to adopt.
caption: Kentoshi route, also known as the sea route from Japan to China.
exif: {}